Report: Mariners to non-tender Lopez

Mike Salk of 710 ESPN Seattle reported Wednesday morning that the Mariners will non-tender infielder Jose Lopez and allow him to become a free agent.

Jose Lopez

The deadline for teams to offer contract to arbitration-eligible players is 9 p.m. Thursday.

The Mariners declined a $5 million option on Lopez last month.

The team likely was trying to work out a trade for Lopez, 27, but he was a major disappointment last season in what was expected to be another year of improvement.

He hit .239 with 10 home runs and 58 RBIs and a .270 on-base percentage a year after hitting .272 with 25 homers and 96 RBIs. His move to third base seemed to affect him on the offensive end as well.

Lopez was once seen as a future star, sharing an infield with Yuniesky Betancourt and Adrian Beltre. In 2006, his first full season with the major league club, he hit .282 with 10 homers and 79 RBIs. But questions about hit fitness and plate discipline dogged him for much of his time in Seattle.

The Mariners have some options in the infield. Chone Figgins, who struggled after moving to second base last season, could move back to third, where he is more comfortable.

Still, it’s surprising the Mariners didn’t try to keep Lopez at a discounted rate and hope he hit well enough during the first half of the season to raise his trade stock. That would have given Ackley a few months of seasoning at Triple-A Tacoma before joining the big league team.

Either way, though, 2011 figures to be a season for the organization’s young talent to show what it can do. The sooner Ackley joins first baseman Justin Smoak on the right side of the infield, the better.

The Mariners have five other arbitration-eligible players – David Aardsma, Brandon League, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Jason Vargas and Josh Wilson.